Chapter 533 - 527_1
Liu Aniu remained silent, merely etching the reactions of these people into his memory. The Dongjia was so kind-hearted that gratitude was only proper. Those who were ungrateful and harbored ill intentions—he would keep a close eye on them.
Zhang Qiusheng’s daughter also lived outside and didn’t want to leave the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, she came out to look and saw Liu Aniu bringing a few families to live in the neighboring courtyard. She followed to enjoy the excitement.
Such a beautiful and delicate young girl naturally attracted everyone’s attention. The youth who was currying favor with the village head was Zhao Wufu’s second son, Zhao Pingshun. Catching sight of the beautiful girl, he stared at her so intently it seemed his eyes would pop out. The girl’s ideal type was someone like Zhao Erhu—handsome and wealthy; she would never fancy the likes of Zhao Pingshun, poor and meek. She glared at Zhao Pingshun with disdain.
"What are you looking at? Keep staring, and I’ll gouge your eyeballs out!" she said viciously.
Zhao Pingshun was scolded but didn’t mind at all; instead, he seemed delighted. However, fearing he might anger the fair maiden, he refrained from gazing at her as blatantly as before and instead stole glances at her from time to time.
After the girl left, Zhao Pingshun hurriedly inquired about her identity. Learning she was the only daughter of the woodworker master highly regarded by the lady of the house, Zhao Pingshun became even more interested. She was beautiful with a good family background, which was heavens apart from their own poor peasant household. The benefits of marrying her were numerous, and the thought alone was enticing.
As for whether the girl would fancy him, Zhao Pingshun believed in making his own destiny. Even Zhao Erhu, who was widowed and known for his misfortune with wives, managed to have good days like these, running such a large business. Who knows? Perhaps the girl was his opportunity. Zhao Pingshun didn’t see anything wrong with an ugly toad craving the swan’s flesh—it was fine by Zhang Qiusheng, considering he had only one daughter. If necessary, he was willing to marry into her family, as no one cared if there was another son in his household.
The girl was naïve and naturally could not guess Zhao Pingshun’s intentions. At first, she really disliked Zhao Pingshun and would scold him with a frown whenever she saw him. But Zhao Pingshun was persistent, always smiling in the face of her rebukes without a single complaint. Gradually, she became less resistant. After all, she was a young girl. Although she didn’t like Zhao Pingshun, she quite enjoyed the feeling of being adored and pampered. Sometimes she would even imperiously order Zhao Pingshun to run errands for her, eventually finding him quite handy to use. Their constant company led uninformed onlookers to believe that the two had taken a liking to each other and were mutually interested.
It was a long time before Zhang Qiusheng learned from the gossip of others that his daughter was often seen with Zhao Pingshun. Zhang Qiusheng had a more discerning eye than his daughter. Feeling that Zhao Pingshun was not a good person, he intended to restrict his daughter from associating with him. However, his daughter refused to listen, leading to regrettable events later on, but that’s a story for another time.